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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Lip Smackers...a gateway drug?

Sure, my baby can’t read. But you know what? I am glad. Don’t get me wrong I love the E*Trade baby as much as the next guy. But if my 11 week old daughter started asking me for a ride to the mall to meet up with her friends I would probably freak. What is it with these commercials about teaching your baby to read at 6 months old? We spend too much time in this life trying to push our kids to grow up faster than they really should. I read in the Wall Street Journal the other day how girls as young as 8 start wanting to apply makeup and that this trend starts with allowing them to try flavored lip gloss as early as age 3. Flavored lip balm is the gateway drug to girls wearing makeup? Then my girls are not allowed to have Lip Smackers anytime soon. The article points out that you don’t want to freak out about it. My time as a high school teacher has taught me this lesson; the more you fight your kids on not doing something for any particular reason the more likely they will find a way to do it. The article preaches that you want your kids, if they are going to wear makeup to go the natural route. Wal-Mart is selling a line called geoGirl with natural ingredients and no harsh chemicals that lots of makeup has. Still, the average monthly spending on beauty products by 8-12 year old girls is $9.20. Seems like a lot right? Your kids are going to be interested in and wearing things that you probably don’t like at some point. Although I can’t understand the desire to want a giant glittery word like PINK or JUICY scrawled across my backside but girls seem to like this for some reason. I can see it now in a conversation at the mall "OMG, that guy is totally looking at my butt!" Girls, let me tell you from a dad's opinion: IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE A GOLD ROAD SIGN ON YOUR REAR! If your kid is not doing said thing that you don't want them to do then more than likely someone else’s kid is. Soon enough you will be having that “Would you jump off a bridge discussion” with your daughter. Just remember girls, just because it says couture in gold letters doesn’t make it so. Girls, take your time growing up it is just hard on us dads to see you grow up so fast. I have to go, my baby just dropped a hot stock tip in her diapers, so it looks like I have some time yet.